The present invention relates to a support for solar panels, and in particular to a lightweight support which minimizes the use of heavy structural steel even in a large solar panel installation.
Solar panels containing an array of photovoltaic cells which generate electricity have been found very useful in supplying electric power in remote locations. For example, photovoltaic solar panels now provide electrical power to wells, pipeline pumping stations, and the like. Such applications all involve the use of electrical energy in a location far from conventional sources.
The efficiency of such solar panel installations has been greatly increased by using solar tracking mechanisms, such as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,275,712 and 4,476,854, which rotate the solar panels to face the sun as it moves through the sky. Because of the success of such installations, solar generated electricity is being used in larger and larger applications, and the size of the solar panel arrays is rapidly increasing.
The typical support for a solar panel array which tracks the sun employs a large pedestal embedded in cement, and a rigid torque tube assembly which provides a rectangular frame on which the solar panels are mounted. As the size of the solar panel array increases, the size and weight of the frame for the panels increases geometrically. A heavy structural steel pedestal is required, embedded in a large cement base to withstand the loads on the above ground structure. Typical installations have become sufficiently large so that cranes are required to move and install the structural steel, and cement trucked in to support the steel framework. Unfortunately, the construction of such a large support structure is quite expensive and difficult in the typical remote locations where such solar panel installations are most advantageous.